Michigan’s Unemployment Rate Drops to 14.6 Percent

Michigan's unemployment rate has improved for the third straight month. State officials said Wednesday that the December jobless rate dropped to 14.6 percent, down from a national high of 14.7 percent in November. State officials said that modest recalls of laid off auto workers and a slower pace of job loss in the service sector helped to stabilize Michigan's jobless rate in the second half of 2009. The state's jobless rate reached 15.3 percent in September. The national unemployment rate in December was 10 percent, unchanged from November. Michigan's jobless rate has exceeded 10 percent since late last year. It has been the nation's highest for much of the past four years. (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)